Why I’m Here

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico – June, 2010

“Now that I am of a certain age, I’m following a piece of old Irish advice in going to live by the sea: It stops old wounds from hurting. It revives the spirit. It quickens the passions of mind and body, yet lends tranquility to the soul.”

John Huston

“I am like the sea, going back, going over something again.”

Tess Gallagher

These words of John Huston’s have long touched and inspired me, and have helped me understand the powerful pull on my soul this place exerts. I have returned again and again. For 43 of my 60 years, I have fallen ever more deeply in love with the Bay of Banderas. It is the longest love affair of my life.

Embraced by the Sierra Madre, green jungle mountains that define and hold the great bay, it is a giant chalice filled with life. Whales and dolphins joyously breach it’s blue surface. Clouds pile up on the horizon and drift by. Frigate birds and pelicans wheel and soar.

From the terrace of my apartment in Puerto Vallarta this glittering world of sea and sky stretches before me, a ceaseless interplay of water and light. One block and eight stories below waves lap at a sandy beach fringed by palm trees, their rhythm a constant counterpoint to my days and nights.

These attributes, as they say in Spanish- me encanta – they enchant me. I am profoundly grateful to be living here again.

This blog is my love letter to the Bay of Banderas for giving me so much joy and showing me so much beauty.

Please be sure and read the About Me and This Blog page, as it explains how to navigate the stories chronologically.